Improvement in the manufacture of iron



3Sheets-'-Sheet 1.

1.. J. JOHNSTON.

Improvement in the Manufacture of Iron.

Nb. 126,709, PatentedMay14J872.

" E E A 3 Sheets--Sheet 2. J. J. JOHNSTON.

Improvement in the Manufacture of Iron. No. 126,709, PatentedMay14,1872,.

' WQ'Znesses. fiz y? Z07: 0M 2g& vAW/M Q, S Sheeiv-SheetS.

J. LJOHNSTON.

Improvement in the Manufacture of Iron. No. 126,709, PatentedMay14,l872.

fiurezzlon JAMES J. JOHNSTON, or COLUMBIANA, OHIO, ASSIGNOR rro' s. 1). HUBBARD & 00., or rrrrsnunamnnnsvnvnnm.

IMPROVEMENT IN THE MANUFACTURE OF IRON.

Specification forming p art of Letters Patent No. 126,709, dated May 14, 1872.

To all whomit may concern:

j Be it known that I, JAMEfi J. JOHNSTON, of Golumbiana, county of Oolumbiana, and State of Ohio,'have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in the Manufacture of Iron; and I'do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, reference beinghad to the accompanying drawing and to the letters of reference marked thereon.

The nature of my invention consists in mixin g together pulverized iron ore and the nitrate of soda, and then heating the mixedmass and mixing it with molten cast-iron, substantially as hereinafter described. 7

To enable others skilled in the art to make and use myinvention, Iwill proceed to describe it more fully.

In the accompanying drawing, which forms part of my specification, Figure 1 represents a cupola or smelting-furnace, surrounded with a series of puddling or boiling furnaces. Fig. 2 represents a side elevation of the same. Fig. 3 represents aside elevation with one of the puddling or boiling furnaces removed.

The cupola or smelting-furnace A is of the ordinary construction, except that it has four outlets for the molten metal, which are provided with channels 0 leading into the working-chambers of the puddling-furnaces B, surrounding it at a point directly opposite their working-doors. Attached to the cupola and immediately over the channels are placed receptacles D for receiving the heated and mixed pulverized ore and nitrate of soda. These receptacles are provided at their lower end with a cylindrical chamber, 6, furnished with a discharge-tube, f. In the cylindrical chambere is arranged a shaft, h, from which radiate a series of wings. This shaft h is furnished with a crank or other device for turning it. The arrangement of the receptacles D with relation to the cupola A and channels G leading into the furnaces B will be readily understood by reference to the accompanying drawing. The form and construction of the receptacles D are sufficiently indicated from the foregoing, reference being had to Figs. 1 and 3, to enable the skillful mechanic to make them. The puddling or boiling furnaces B are of the ordinary form and construction, and are provided with all the tools and appendages which are common to such furnaces. The fuel, ore, or metal is conveyed through the medium of trucks m and railway or gallery a to the chargingdoor of the furnace or cupola, and it is charged and otherwise manipulated, as in the ordinary furnace or cupola. The pulverized ore should be sufiiciently fine to pass through the meshes of a No. 8 sieve. The nitrate of soda is mixed with the ore by dissolving the soda in just sufficient water to hold it in solution, and the solution is sprinkled over the ore, stirring and mixing it so that all the particles of the ore are brought in contact with the particles of the solution. About five pounds of the nitrate of soda (dissolved) is mixed with about one hundred pounds of the pulverized ore. The pulverized ore, after being mixed with the nitrate of soda, as described, is allowed to stand exposed to the action of the atmosphere for twenty-four (24') or forty-eight (48) hours, or longer if desirable. It is then heated in a suitable drying-oven to about (300 Fahrenheit, care being taken to prevent it from caking in lumps. The heated ore, treated as hereinbefore described, is placed in the receptacles D. The cupola or furnace is tapped so as to allow a small stream of molten metal to flow from it into the channel 0, and along it into the Working-chamber of the puddlingfurnace B. As soon as the molten metal commences to flow from the cupola or furnace the shaft h is rotated, which will cause the treated, mixed, and heated pulverized ore to flow in a steady stream down upon the molten metal as it flows into the channel (3 from the cupola or furnace, thereby mixing the pulverized ore with the molten metal in its passage from the cupola or smelting-furnace to the puddlingfurnace B, and as soon as the bottom of the puddling-chamber is covered with the molten metal flowing into it from the channel 0, the puddler commences the operation of stirring and otherwise manipulating the molten metal in the puddling-furnace, so as to form puddled balls, which are afterward subjected to the squeezing or hammering process, and then rolled into merchantable bar iron. The quantity of the pulverized, treated, and heatedbre mixed with the molten metal, as hereinbefore bined with an ore-distributing receptacle, D, substantially as herein described, and for the purpose set forth.

2. In the process of manufacturing wroughtiron, mixing and combining heated pulverized iron ore and nitrate of soda with molten metal, substantially as hereinbefore described, and for the purpose set forth.

JAMES J. JOHNSTON.

Witnesses:

WM. W. S. DYRE, EDM. F. BROWN. 

